#portcolumbus

Commander Semmes wrote Confederate Secretary of the Navy Mallory: “It will doubtless be a matter of delicacy and management to get the Alabama safely out of British waters without suspicion, as Mr. [Charles F.] Adams, the Northern envoy, and his numerous satellites are exceedingly vigilant in their espionage. We can not, of course, think of arming her in a British port. This must be done at some concerted rendezvous, to which her battery and most of her crew must be sent in a merchant vessel. . . I think well of your suggestion of the East Indies as a cruising ground, and hope to be in the track of the enemy’s commerce in those seas as early as October or November next, when I shall doubtless be able to make other rich ‘burnt offerings’ upon the altar of our country’s liberties. . . “

 Rear Admiral Raphael Semmes, CSN

Captain Blake, Superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy, wrote Assistant Secretary of the Navy Fox regarding the curriculum of the Academy: “To make the Academy a school for engineers would require considerable changes in the Academic Course. Descriptive geometry, which was struck of it sometime since, should be restored, for it is needed in the study and comprehension of machines. There should also be an extension of the course of Analytical Geometry and Calculus, by means of which many of the formulas relating to steam, and the steam engine, are derived, and the course of drawing, which now embraces mechanical drawing to some degree, should be extended. We should also have more chemistry.” Through the years the Naval Academy curriculum has been reviewed and revised to meet the demands of new technology and new dimensions in sea power.

 General View of the Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland, a wood engraving after a drawing by W. R. Miller (Miller, William Rickarby, 1818-1893), published March 1853 in Illustrated News, New York, New York.

Joint expedition, made at the request of Major General Halleck to open Army communications on the White River, under Commander Kilty in U.S.S. Mound City, with U.S.S. St. Louis, Lexington, and Conestoga, and a regiment of troops, engaged Confederate batteries at St. Charles, Arkansas. Mound City took a direct hit at close range, exploding her steam drum and causing heavy casualties. Covered by the gunboats, the troops landed and successfully stormed the earthworks. This action gave control of the White River to the Union fleet.

Major General Henry Halleck

Confederate Congress passed an act recognizing state of war with the United States and authorized the issuing of Letters of Marque to private vessels. President Davis issued instructions to private armed vessels, in which he defined operational limits, directed "strictest regard to the rights of neutral powers," ordered privateers to proceed "With all. . . justice and humanity" toward Union vessels and crews, outlined procedure for bringing in a prize, directed that all property on board neutral ships be exempt from seizure "unless it be contraband," and defined contraband.